Say them magic words!

I know that in this day and age of instant gratification, we often do without the social mores that our parents or grandparents expect us to follow. I get that. On my birthday, I got several (very beautiful) birthday cards (I was so touched by the amount that I posted a photo of the cards!) and I absolutely adored that. We don’t write enough letters anymore in this day and age of emails and instant messaging.

Whilst on this soap box, I seriously believe that “please” and “thank you” are still important. Even if you don’t mean it. I know a lot of people will poo-poo my encouragement of insincere platitudes, but I am a firm believer that politeness is still a social requirement. You ask someone to do something for you, you say “please.” If someone does something for you (whether requested or not) you say “thank you.” This applies to everything from letters to text messages. It’s an unspoken rule: you use the magic words.

Freedom of speech is a basic human right and we can say whatever we want, however way we want to. But politeness never cost anyone anything, and it’s a sign of your humanity.